Varavall

Oddly that is how it's been here in Spain over the past months. Maybe there is an explanation?

Exactly as I do it. In an earlier life I was an IT consultant and appreciate that when a saystem is working don't touch it! Only apply software updates if there is a need and of course keep a system backup for those hardware failures. My really cheap mini-pc works without problems. Stick with it; I know IT can be frustrating at times!

Just go to the scrap yard and buy a round or square lump of metal of the weight desired, for me under 1 euro, and put a threaded rod in the base of the smooth cunterweight bar and then drill a hole in the scrap metal equal to the diameter of the threaded rod, then affix with a nut. Use the proprietry weights for fine tuning. 1-2 euros or £0.80-1.75. It may look a tad rough but its dark 😁

Hi Assuming its the Baader corrector take a look at this I use a SW200pds and a Skywatcher coma corrector on an HEQ5 with round stars using a guidescope. The mount is probably overloaded but I get a PHD2 RMS of 0.25-0.6, but I have hypertuned the mount and replaced all the bearings with SKF ones. Maybe you could post a PHD2 log file? Best of luck!

Hi I wished to do similar using a ZWO camera and Nikon lenses and I have been down that route and found at certain points the guidescope fouled the mount. So I machined some scrap aluminium plates and attached them to the bar, and now I can fix the guidescape and mini PC to one plate and have a removable plate to attach the camera lens and focuser - see photo. It works very well for me.

The Heart and Soul nebulas taken over 11th, 12th and 13th March. 30x 600s Ha, 10x600s Sii, 13x600s Oiii Kit:: Nikon 135mm AI lens at f4, ZWO Nikon-filter wheel adapter, ASI1600MM-Cool, ZWO EAF, Astrodon 5nm Ha, Sii and Oiii filters, HEQ5 Pro modded mount, NINA, PHD2 Processed in ASTAP, Siril, GIMP and NX Studio

I guess that's £100 before thinking about what to sit it on. versus £1 for scrap aluminium tube.

True, but I use a socket wrench so I keep my blood where it belongs. 😉

I built a pillar mount out of scrap aluminium for £30 . If you are handy with tools, maybe an option for you.

Horsehead Nebula Kit: Nikon 300mm AI lens at f4.5, ZWO Nikon-filter wheel adapter, ASI1600MM-Cool, ZWO EAF, Astrodon 5nm Ha, Sii and Oiii filters, HEQ5 Pro modded mount, NINA, PHD2 Ha 40x300s, Sii 13x60s, Oiii 15x60s Processed in ASTAP, Siril and GIMP Taken 19th February

Here is a go at the Heart Nebula. Kit: Nikon 300mm AI lens at f4.5, ZWO Nikon-filter wheel adapter, ASI1600MM-Cool, ZW EAF, Astrodon 5nm Ha, Sii and Oiii filters, HEQ5 Pro modded mount Ha 18x600s, Sii 8x600s, Oiii 30x900s Processed in ASTAP, Siril and GIMP Taken 3rd and 5th February

Here is another effort of the Rosette Nebula using a shorter focal length setup to reveal more of the surrounding nebulosity. Kit: Nikon 300mm AI lens at f4.5, ZWO Nikon-filter wheel adapter, ASI1600MM-Cool, ZW EAF, Astrodon 5nm Ha, Sii and Oiii filters, HEQ5 Pro modded mount Ha 6x900s, Sii 7x600s, Oiii 7x900s Processed in ASTAP, Siril and GIMP Taken 5th February

I think I lost mine long ago 🤪 Good luck with the next attempt.

Hi GIMP has a native FITS reader and I have no problems opening and stretching such files. Maybe you could post the stacked FITS file in questio n here so we can see if I have the same problem or not. Then at least will will knw if its the file or your system that has a problem.

Here is my interpretation of the Rosette Nebula in my preferred bold and bright colours. 10 x Ha, 15 x Sii, 15 x Oiii all at 600s on the nights of 13th and 25th January Kit: SW 120ED with Mira 0.63x flattener/reducer, ZWO ASI1600MM-cool, astrodon 5nm filters, SW HEQ5 belt modded with upgraded bearings, NINA and PHD2 Processed in ASTAP, GIMP and Siril

A final seasonal entry. Funfair ride at Parque Turo, Barcelona. Single shot processed in NX Studio. Nikon D610, lens 17-35mm F2.8D at 26mm, f11, 1/20s, ISO1600

A sesonal scene in the French Catalonian town of Céret, the Porte d'Espagne, a relic of the town's medieval ramparts. Moon to top right. Single shot processed in NX Studio. Nikon D610, lens 17-35mm F2.8D at 28mm, f3.5, 1/50s, ISO640

Tonight we had a double halo caused by high atitude ice crystals, so by squatting on the ground I managed to get a tree in the bottom of the photo which I hope is sufficiently Earthly for the challenge. That's Jupiter to the right of the Moon. Nikon D610 with VR 70-200mm F2.8G lens at 70mm, f2.8, 1/25s, ISO1600.

Moon rising over a wind turbine, Gandesa, Spain. Single shot with Nikon D610 with VR 70-200mm F2.8G lens at 116mm, F5, 1/400s, ISO 100

Hi I have the same mount and use NINA and park to a custom position so I can close the cover. What I have found is that once the custom park is set in NINA at the end of the imaging session the telescope duly parks where I want it. However, on start up when the telescope is unparked NINA assumes the telescope is at the home position so all goto slews go wrong. So what I do when I start up is to unpark and then park to home position, telescope goes pointing north and then everything works as it should. Guess that's a "bug" in NINA, but nothing major once known abut the foible. Hope that's useful.

One of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ocnvlia-10mm-130mm-Replacement-Spanner-Opening/dp/B0C7QG4LDF/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3AAJ9SVX4RZOP&keywords=Lens+Spanner+Wrench+Opening+Tool&qid=1699525031&sprefix=lens+spanner+wrench+opening+tool%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-3

My Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with belt mod and all the bearings replaced with SKL ones, regreased with lithium-PTFE grease, gives me 0.3-0.6 RMS with my 8" Newtonian and the photographic paraphenalia. When doing the upgrade I discovered that the internal attention to detail was lacking in that some components were not screwed down properly and others overtightened. So it's well worth stripping the mounts down to get best performance.

To close this discussion off the problem has been rectified and all is good once more. The problem was someone had removed the lens cell and slightly cross-threaded it giving it a few millimetres of slant; perhaps Spanish Customs when it came through. Anyway, I couldn't budge the lens cell so I took it to the official Skywatcher dealer for Spain in Barcelona and they sorted it for 80 euros and collimated it to perfection.

Thanks for the pointer, but the photo was illustrative and not how ithe telescope is used. It's all rotated and I have hypertuned the mount with SKL bearings, etc. PHD2 guide RMS of 0.3-0.6. So all is well 🙂

Thanks for all the comments. Tilt is what my initial thought was, but as the fact hat by movng the camera and the very same extension tubes to my Newtonian did not exhibit any form of tilt to me pointed to a problem with the refractor. I rummaged in my box of odds and ends and found a refractor collimating eyepiece and lo and behold the collimation was way out. So its misaligned objective cell and/or focuser. I will report back once all is tweaked.